greenyphatomfandomcom-20200214-history
"Balls"
"Balls", Inc. (sometimes called Balls), is a multinational video game developer, licensor, distributor and publisher founded in 1981 by Michael Wildshill, John Harris and Bill Williams, known for the Balls series. The company was acquired by Fox Interactive (now Fox Digital Entertainment) and Universal Interactive Studios in August 1994 and located in Culver City, California. On August 15, 2000, "Balls" ended its deal for Universal Interactive Studios. The ''Geo Adventure'' series was made using the GeoBob Engine. Over the years, "Balls" has made deals to develop games with various small companies, such as Slik Games, "Balls" had its divisions such as, "Balls" of Japan, "Balls" of Europe, SIZ, K-3 Productions, LO Studios, LLC etc. In 2012, the remaining co-founders John Harris and Michael Wildshill formed a parent company soon to be called "Balls" Corporation. History "Balls" was founded in 1981 by Michael Wildshill, Bill Williams and John Harris as a company specializing in video compression and non-linear editing systems, particularly for Acorn Archimedes computers. "Balls" made its first game called Balls., and made a series out of them. In August 1994, "Balls" was acquired by Fox Interactive and Universal Interactive Studios, and two years later, the Geo Adventure ''series was made using the GeoBob Engine. In 1998, Bill Williams, the co-founder of the company, died and games released during 1998 and 1999 included a memoriam. In E3 2008, "Balls" announced a now-cancelled free-to-play MMORPG, developed by it's San Francisco studio which was closed few years later in 2010. In January 1st, 2014, friend of the founder (Michael Wildshill), Edward Fowly announced "Balls" to be closed in December 2014, because of financial difficulties. Sam G., a worker at "Balls" who is a cousin of Geo G., told Wildshill about this. Wildshill said that Fowly was just joking and "we had enough money". On June 11, 2014, Balls Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After selling many studios and mergering groups to Mango, Balls Corporation is no longer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as of June 25th, 2014. Company structure and studio history In 2014, Michael announced that "Balls" is opening a New Orleans studio "sooner, maybe the following year." Unfortunately, "Balls" closed down studios from Dusseldorf, Cambridge (US), Valencia, New Taipei and Bucharest and had massive lay-offs, while the rest of the work on ''Chroma, the new IP by Harmonix, was moved to Hidden Path Entertainment. Later, employees were hired by UltraNitro Studios. Bankruptcy and liquidation controversy After several years of financial struggles, on June 11, 2014, Balls Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the public auction on June 21, 2014, Balls Corporation’s game development business in: *Seoul (South Korea) *West Los Angeles (Salt Lake, USA) *Istanbul (Turkey) *London (England, UK) *Bangalore (India) *Beijing (China) *McKinney (USA, remaining half of split of Zynga With Friends after acquisition by both UltraNitro Studios and "Balls") *Boston (USA) *Mountain View (USA) *Stockholm (Sweden) *Hamburg (Germany, remaining half of split of Fishlabs after acquisition by both UltraNitro Studios and "Balls") *Annecy (France) *Sydney (Australia) and few intellectual properties and unfinished projects were acquired by and merged to UltraNitro Studios, once again. Soon, the Abu Dhabi, Saigon, Nagoya, Makati and Jakarta studios were bought by Starway Games. Geoshea Games bought game businesses in Issy-les-Moulineaux (France), Shenzen and Hangzhou (China), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Pune (India), Needham and Warrington (UK), Singapore (Singapore), Ingelheim and Mainz (Germany) and Sofia (Bulgaria). Ubisoft acquired "Balls" Studios Bucharest and merged it to Ubisoft Bucharest. Balls Corporation then closed studios at Casablanca, Sofia, Eugene, Las Vegas, Szczecin, Mexicali, Hanoi, Kharkov, Da Nang, Madrid, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Warsaw, Medellin, Bogota, Taunton and Valletta during June 22nd and 24th, 2014. Then, Balls Corporation liquidated it's studios at New England (USA), Heusenstamm (Germany), Bydgoszcz (Poland), Sheffield (UK), Taipei (Taiwan), Camarillo (USA), Budapest (Hungary), Bristol (UK), Cheltenham (UK), New Delhi (India), Copenhagen (Denmark), Prague (Czech Republic), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Canberra (Australia), Chengdu (China), Zurich (Switzerland), Teesside (UK) and Vienna (Austria), discontinued the "Balls" Mobile brand (now "Balls" Indipendent Games will handle both indie games and mobile games). Meanwhile, the Redwood and Guildford studios were bought by EA and the Treyarch studio was bought back by Activision. Later, TDG Designer & Enviroment Group, Technical Support Group, Service Database, SP UI Development Group, GAB UI/Sound Group, IRE Planning Group, Technology & Mechanical Group and Industrial Group with "Balls" EMCS's Komarom and Bochum facilities all merged to Mango. It was said to be the biggest merger in the history of Balls Corporation. There are also other intellectual properties, assets, etc etc. sold in public auction, such as: *Distribution rights for Smash Fight 5 (acquired by Koch Media US/Deep Silver for $10 million) *A studio at Hannover (acquired by SnakeCore for $5 million; moved to and then merged to the owner a month later) Post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy controversy Balls Corporation is no longer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as of June 25th, 2014. Balls Corporation acquired UTV True Games and Ignition Entertainment from UTV in June 27th, 2014. Studios Current established studios *"Balls" of Europe founded in 1996. *"Balls" of Japan founded in 1996. *"Balls" Studios Chicago, founded in 1996. *"Balls" Studios Orlando, founded in 2001. *"Balls" Studios Nottingham, founded in 2003. *"Balls" Studios Riverside, founded in 2008. *"Balls" Studios San Antonio, founded in 2003. *"Balls" Studios Dundee, founded in 2007. *"Balls" Studios Los Angeles, opening November 14, 2014 *"Balls" Studios New Orleans, founded in 2014. Current acquired studios *Slik Games founded in March 1993 in San Mateo, California, acquired on July 3, 1996. *Starway Games, founded in 1990, acquired in 1996 Defunct *SIZ founded in 1994, acquired in 1997, name changed to "Balls" Studios Wellington in 1999, closed in 2001. *K-3 Productions founded in December 1985, acquired in 1997, disbanded in 2001, closed and trademarks retired in 2002. *LO Studios founded in 2003, acquired in 2005, closed in 2006. *"Balls" Studios Montreal, founded in 1998, closed in 2009. *"Balls" Studios New York, founded in 1979 as GeoLand Studios in Quincy, Massachusetts, moved to New York in 1983, acquired in 1999, name changed to "Balls" Studios New York in 2000, closed in 2011 due to financial reasons. *"Balls" Studios Vancouver, founded in 1997, closed in 2010. Departured/former first-party studios *Rocksteady Studios, founded and acquired in 2004, name changed to "Balls" Studios Highgate in 2005, name changed back to Rocksteady and sold to WB Games in 2009 Games featuring Geo Guy *''Geo 3D Cartoon Studio'' (1994, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Guy's Art Workshop'' (1995, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Crazy Puzzle'' (1995, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Guy in Fantastic Fun!'' (1996, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Adventure'' (1996, with "Balls") *''Geo Adventure 2'' (1997, with "Balls") *''Geo Adventure 3: The Rise of Gree Guy'' (1998, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Smash Fight'' (1999, with Sony Computer Entertainment) *''Geo Quest to the Guest (1999, with Universal Interactive Studios) *Geo Guy's Crazy Games'' (2000, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Smash Fight 2'' (2002, with Sony Computer Entertainment) *''Smash Fight 3'' (2009, with Sony Computer Entertainment) *''Smash Fight 4'' (2015, with Sony Computer Entertainment) Trivia Main article: "Balls"/Trivia Category:Companies Category:Non-Geo's World games